The Lezyne Flow is a bottle cage done a bit different. Lezyne have made a name for themselves by taking old, boring bicycle bits and bobs, giving them a bit of a zhush, making them work better, be more shiny and somehow muchly desirable... and that's exactly what they've done here. Except it's not that shiny.

Made from a durable, fibre-reinforced Composite Matrix material that looks a lot like plastic, the Flow cage is all, er, flowy with its X-Grip architecture swooping up and around a bottle to cradle it securely, with big twin tabs at the bottom holding it in and smaller ones at the top making sure it doesn't bounce out.

Bolting the Flow to a bike is easy because both mounting holes are over 12mm long. That means there's plenty of wiggle room for any slightly sub-standard bottle-boss spacing in the frame or subtle cage jiggling to clear pumps, other bottles and frame tubes.

Removing a bottle from the cage requires a reassuringly firm tug as the reinforced Composite Matrix flexes to release its cargo. Returning a bottle to the Flow is a little less instinctive. It has to be inserted at quite an angle compared to more traditional bottle-cages in order to clear the pair of small retaining tabs at the top that do such a good job of holding onto a bidon.

A bottle needs to be offered up at about 45 degrees to the cage, give or take, and then curved into the cage via the wide mouth. It's not difficult, it just requires a bit of fumbly relearning and soon becomes second nature, though this might be a problem if you ride a small or compact frame, or have a high bottle-cage position.

Once in, the Flow the bottle isn't going to move. This particular Lezyne cage has been across a whole mountain range on the road and on numerous bumpy excursions on a cyclo-cross bike and the water bottle hasn't budged an inch. There hasn't even been a rattle. Lovely.

At 49g it could almost be considered a heavyweight in bottle cage terms, but it does cost less than a tenner, so light weight isn't its prime selling point. Similarly, its fluid plastic construction suits flowy plasticy and swoopy hydroformed alloy bikes better. Owners of more traditionally tubed bikes might be better served by one of Lezyne's more tubular bottle-cages if that aesthetic sort of thing bothers you.

Finally, and best of all, the Flow hasn't marked any of the bottles that it's had in its charge. No scratched logos, no scored bodies, no new bottles looking scruffy and dirty in a couple of rides. Smart. Literally.

As an aside, the Flow bottle cage is remarkably similar to the Flow Cage HP. Actually, it's exactly the same but for the addition of two bits of sponge stuck each side of the body to support a Lezyne mini-pump and a strap threaded through the cage to hold it there. So if you want this cage but with mini-pump holding capability, go for that one. It weighs 3g more, thanks to the strap, and costs £4 extra.

Verdict

A good-value plastic cage that is a tenacious bottle holder

road.cc test report

Make and model: Lezyne Flow Bottle Cage

Size tested: Black, white, grey

Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

Lezyne say the Flow is a high-strength, low-weight great value bottle-cage and I'd agree with that. Although it's not particularly svelte in the bottle-cage league table, its weight-to-cost ratio makes it well worth a look.

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

There's not much a bottle-cage has to do and it did most of them well. It held onto the bottle securely and it's easy to get a bottle out. It is a tiny bit more awkward than usual to get a bottle back in though.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

The price, the bottle security, the lack of bottle marking.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

Nothing. Even the slightly cack-handed bottle entry became instinctive after one ride.

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes

Would you consider buying the product? Yes

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes

Overall rating: 8/10

About the tester

Age: 42 Height: 180cm Weight: 73kg

I usually ride: It varies as to the season. My best bike is: The one I\'m on at the time

I've been riding for: Over 20 years I ride: Most days I would class myself as: Experienced

I regularly do the following types of riding: road racing, cyclo cross, general fitness riding, fixed/singlespeed, mtb, Fun

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Jo Burt has spent the majority of his life riding bikes, drawing bikes and writing about bikes. When he's not scribbling pictures for the whole gamut of cycling media he writes words about them for road.cc and when he's not doing either of those he's pedaling. Then in whatever spare minutes there are in between he's agonizing over getting his socks, cycling cap and bar-tape to coordinate just so. And is quietly disappointed that yours don't He rides and races road bikes a bit, cyclo-cross bikes a lot and mountainbikes a fair bit too. Would rather be up a mountain.

2 comments

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Farky[183 posts]5 years ago

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I bought one based on price alone really.

Excellent, in fact, probably the best one ive ever had though im not one for spending £30 on a lightweight bottle cage so little to compare it to in that range.

I too found the entry a little fiddly to start, 2 uses later and it was 2nd nature again, in fact, once Id realised I needed to give it a confident push, I could do do safe in the mind it would was in and not coming out. Always had to check the bottle was properly seated in other budget models.

Easy to clean around too and flexes rather than feels like its going to break, if you knock it or something.

£4 extra for the strap-on pump facility isnt bad condisering a tailored strap. I will be velcro straping mine on as I didnt buy that model....or might buy another cage for SeatTube and of course the pump.

The knack, such as there is, with this cage is in the pulling out of the bottle - you need to pull it forward a bit rather than up first to open the tabs then it slides out easily and goes back like most cages. Does the job and looks classy IMHO

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